Davis Bike Club (DBC)
Juniors Development Program - 2005
The following summary outlines the criteria and structure for
the DBC
junior’s development team as part of the DBC race team for 2005. The document is intended to provide some information for potential participants and their parents regarding the program philosophy and initial structure. Hopefully it will answer many of the basic questions that you may have about the program and better allow you to evaluate the appropriateness of your and/or your child’s participation.
Program Philosophy
The DBC juniors
program was founded on the principles of teaching and
nurturing these athletes, not on winning. While I want all
of these athletes to succeed, I do not believe we should
focus on measuring success only in terms of how they place
in events. Above all they should learn the basics and have
fun, results will follow.
Given this focus on development and learning, that
learning will span the following areas:
- Basic Riding/Racing Skills - Teaching and mentoring designed to enhance riding proficiency and on-bike skills. We will focus on teaching participants how to comfortably ride in groups, how to efficiently and safely perform skills required in riding/racing such as cornering, descending, climbing, pace-lines, etc. The focus here should be on safety and technique. As technique improves this will naturally allow for application at higher speeds, which again will drive results.
- Equipment Maintenance - We plan to provide an opportunity for the juniors to learn how to properly maintain their bikes/equipment. This is necessary to insure the safety of the juniors and those that they ride with. This would include regular/routine maintenance issues (i.e. washing/lubing/inspecting week to week) as well as more intensive items such as replacing a bottom-bracket, brake cables, etc. We are planning some formal arrangement with the staff at Ken's Bike & Ski in downtown Davis,
where we will have designated "shop nights" and/or
afternoon/weekend clinics where the juniors can bring in
their bikes and get some hands-on guidance from a
professional mechanic.
- Basic Training & Physiology Guidance - We teach basic level information regarding the benefits of proper nutrition, hydration, structured training and adequate rest. With this age group I don’t know how in depth we want to go here. I would like to introduce these concepts so that they begin to understand that if they want to become serious it requires a certain amount of dedication and discipline. As the program and the athletes involved develop, there will be an opportunity to provide more detailed, specific training programs. If a rider becomes very intensely focused on their training as their skills progress, they may wish to consider a more structured, full-scope training approach. Depending on the circumstances, this may at some point exceed the scope of the program for some. In these cases we will try to work out an off-line arrangement with a coach that may or may not require a fee.
- Racing Tactics/Skills & Race Day Prep
- We will teach the basics of tactics with an emphasis on the
advantages of working as a team. We plan to work with them
on basic techniques such as knowing when/how to attack a
group or another rider, when to conserve energy, the concept
of knowing your competition and tactical placement in the
group. In addition we will discuss "Race Day
Prep"- Pre-race nutrition, packing your gear, bike
check & prep, proper warm-up and cool-down, maintaining
proper hydration and glucose levels, etc.
Program Structure
In order for the program to succeed it will require time and
energy from several sources as well as adequate funding.
Currently we have secured time from several DBC members. Please keep in mind that all of these folks are volunteering their precious time. In addition to the time they are committing, there will be a need for parents to be willing to commit time in support of their child as well. Depending on the frequency that a junior races, many of the events will require a parent/guardian to act as a driver and as race day support and/or at a minimum to provide financial support for proper equipment and maintenance. We want you to know up front that cycling equipment can be costly and that in addition to the financial cost both the rider and those that support them will need to give of their time if the rider becomes serious and wishes to advance.
With these items in mind, the following is the basic
structure we will use as we launch this program. As the
program matures this structure will likely be modified to
fit the need of the participants as well as the resources
available. Resources in this case are defined as the time
available from identified volunteers, as well as monetary
resources to support the program.
- Weekly Rides - Training rides are scheduled with designated mentors. Subscribe to the juniors listserv to get the latest schedule. These rides are critical to the programs’ success and as a participant in the program you should plan to attend as many of these rides as is possible. These rides are for the juniors, so please
keep that in mind. The continuation of these rides will be
dependent on the participation of the DBC program juniors.
The emphasis during the rides will be on getting to know the
juniors, assessing their skill levels and providing them
with an on bike adviser during rides. Junior program
participants should feel comfortable asking questions and
take seriously the feedback/tips they receive from their
chaperones/mentors. Distance and intensity will be moderate
until such time that we can assess the specific abilities of
the riders. The focus will be on safety and basic group
riding etiquette. During all rides the chaperones will
carry a mobile phone, with emergency contact information for
each participant, as well as a basic first add
pack.
- Monthly Clinics/Rides - Roughly once each month we will provide a weekend day clinic/ride. The focus of the days activities will change month to month, but could include basic skills drills, structured training presentations, fitness testing and program set-up, off-road skills day, race simulation days, advanced maintenance days, weight-lifting & cross-training days, etc. Each day would consist of 1-2 hours of classroom/lecture time followed by a group ride and possibly a meal. The goal is exposure to broad base of topical cycling/racing related areas. We have secured the services of Steve Madden, an elite level USA Cycling Coach with national and international experience to help us out with these clinics.
- Monthly "Team" Race - Again roughly once each month (during the normal racing season) we will have a designated "team" event for the juniors team. The event can be in any discipline (off-road, criterium, RR, TT, cross, etc.) and participation by all juniors’ team members will be highly encouraged. We will likely focus on events that are either (a) part of the NCNCA juniors points series or (b)
geographically close to home. The juniors coordinator will
work with other interested DBC members to
provide transport to/from the event and event day mentoring
and support. The targeted events will be ones that are
deemed safe, geographically appropriate and ones in which
the riders want to participate. The day will include
oversight for proper warm-up & cool down, pre-race prep,
post-race debrief and post-event team meal.
These are the program basics. As mentioned above, as the
program comes together a monthly event calendar will be
prepared and sent to all juniors and others that wish to be
included. I will send the calendar in two-month segments
each month, so that all participants and parents know what
is on the calendar for the next eight weeks or so. I am
proposing distribution via e-mail as the primary router.
For those without e-mail I will send the calendar via US
mail. Please make sure I have your e-mail address if you
wish to be on this distribution list (or your mailing
address) as I will send this independent of the general race
team/DBC lists in an effort not to clog mailboxes for the group as a whole. I will also see if I can post the calendar on the race team web-page (www.dbcraceteam.org).
If you have questions about the above please let me know.
I can be reached as noted below. Thanks in advance for
your interest in the program.
Sincerely,
Joan Anton and Steve Wick, DBC Juniors Development Coordinators
Original letter by Shawn Miller, 2001-2002 DBC Juniors Development Coordinator